Mavs move into second round

The Mavericks vanquished the San Antonio Spurs Wednesday night, giving the three-time NBA champs their first first-round playoff exit since 2000. Nobody’s surprised. Though the third-seeded Spurs’ defeat was technically an upset, they were a dead team walking since losing Manu Ginobili for the season. Tim Duncan could barely move around, and Tony Parker had to do all the perimeter scoring himself. As you could have predicted, he was good enough to do it for one game, but not the whole series.

Now the Mavs will be facing the Nuggets, who laid a 58-point defeat on New Orleans in Game 4. Let me reiterate: 58 freaking points! If I’m a basketball fan in New Orleans, I’m flabbergasted at the way the Hornets have gone from up-and-coming championship contender to flailing dysfunctional mess in less than 12 months. The Mavs will likely be glad to see the team that eliminated them last year crash out this year, but let’s see if they still feel that way when they’re sucking wind in the Mile High City. Can Josh Howard or anyone else on the Mavs can stop Carmelo Anthony?